Question

(Paragraph Form) One to two-page Paper describing how wrongful birth, wrongful life, and wrongful conception differ.

Answer 1

Wrongful birth is a legal cause of action in some common law countries in which the parents of a congenitally diseased child claim that their doctor failed to properly warn of their risk of conceiving or giving birth to a child with serious genetic or congenital abnormalities.hus, the plaintiffs claim, the defendant prevented them from making a truly informed decision as to whether or not to have the child. Wrongful birth is a type of medical malpractice tort. It is distinguished from wrongful life, in which the child sues the doctor.

An example of the general elements of a wrongful birth claim, as established by the California Supreme Court, are:

• the existence of a patient-doctor relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff;
• the doctor negligently failed to disclose to the prospective parents the risk of having a child with a genetic or congenital disease;
• the plaintiff suffered harm; and
• the doctor’s negligence caused that harm

Wrongful life

Wrongful life is a legal cause of action in which a congenitally-diseased child sues the doctor, claiming that but for the negligence of the doctor, the child would not have been born into a life of pain and suffering. The child claims he or she would have been better off never having been born than having been born with a congenital disease. Unlike wrongful birth causes of action, most states do not recognize the wrongful life cause of action. Some courts have reasoned that wrongful life claims call for the court to answer a metaphysical question better left to philosophers: whether it is better never to be born than to be born with a congenital disease. However, some courts, starting with California, have recognized the wrongful life claim. The California Court of Appeal held in 1980 that "a reverent appreciation of life compels recognition that [a wrongful life] plaintiff, however, impaired she may be, has come into existence as a living person with certain rights" – i.e. the right to recover against a doctor whose negligence resulted in her disease.

Wrongful Conception

In a wrongful conception case, the plaintiffs claim that their doctor negligently performed a vasectomy, tubal ligation, or other sterilization procedure, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy and/or birth. The resulting child is usually healthy, though unwanted. "Wrongful pregnancy" or "wrongful conception" for cases where a healthy but unwanted child is born, following negligent contraceptive advice by a doctor or a negligent sterilization or abortion procedure, and the parents claim damages

Wrongful conception is a medical malpractice claim by parents that arises from the negligent performance of a sterilization procedure.' Wrongful birth, on the other hand, is a claim that a health care provider has breached a duty subsequent to a conception that results in the birth of an abnormal child While Missouri Law recognizes wrongful conception as a valid cause of action, it has statutorily refused to allow a wrongful birth claim.' The case addressed the question of whether parents may recover extraordinary expenses when a negligently performed sterilization procedure results in the birth of a child with defects.